GETTING  TOGETHER 


GETTING 
TOGETHER 


BY 

IAN  HAY 

Author  of  "  The  First  Hundred  Thousand," 
"  A  Safety  Match,"  etc 


GARDEN   CITY  BOSTON 

DOl'BLKDAY.  PAGE       HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN 
&  COMPANY  COMPANY 

1917 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
Ian  Hay  Beith 

All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of 

translation  into  foreign  languages, 

including  the  Scandinavian 


CHAPTER  ONE 


CHAPTER   ONE 

For  several  months  it  has  been 
the  pleasant  duty  of  the  writer  of 
the  following  deliverance  to  travel 
around  the  United  States,  lectur- 
ing upon  sundry  War  topics  to 
indulgent  American  audiences.  No 
one — least  of  all  a  parochial  Briton 
— can  engage  upon  such  an  enter- 
prise for  long  without  beginning 
to  realise  and  admire  the  average 
American's  amazing  instinct  for 
public  affairs,  and  the  quickness 
and  vitality  with  which  he  fastens 
on  and  investigates  every  topic 
of  live  interest. 

Naturally,  the  overshadowing 
s 


4  GETTING    TOGETHER 

subject  of  discussion  to-day  is  the 
War,  and  all  the  appurtenances 
thereof.  The  opening  question  is 
always  the  same.  It  lies  about 
your  path  by  day  in  the  form  of  a 
newspaper  man,  or  about  your  bed 
by  night  in  the  form  of  telephone 
call,  and  is  simply: 

"When  is  the  WTar  going  to  end?  " 
(One   is   glad   to   note   that   no 
one  ever  asks  how  it  is  going  to 
end:  that  seems  to  be  settled.) 

The  simplest  way  of  answer- 
ing this  question  is  to  inform 
your  inquisitor  that  so  far  as 
Great  Britain  is  concerned  the 
War  has  only  just  begun — began, 
in  fact,  on  the  first  of  July,  1916; 
when  the  British  Army,  equipped 
at  last,  after  stupendous  exertions, 
for  a  grand  and  prolonged  offensive, 


GETTING    TOGETHER  5 

went  over  the  parapet,  shoulder 
to  shoulder  with  the  soldiers  of 
France,  and  captured  the  hitherto 
impregnable  chain  of  fortresses 
which  crowned  the  ridge  over- 
looking the  Somme  Valley,  with 
results  now  set  down  in  the  pages 
of  history. 

Having  weathered  this  conver- 
sational opening,  the  stranger  from 
Britain  finds  himself,  as  the  days 
of  his  sojourn  increase  in  number, 
swept  gently  but  irresistibly  into 
an  ocean  of  talk — an  ocean  com- 
plicated by  eddies,  cross-currents, 
;ind  sudden  shoals — upon  the  sub- 
ject of  Anglo-American  relations 
over  the  War.  Here  is  the  sub- 
stance of  some  of  the  questions 
which  confront  the  perplexed  way- 
farer:— 


6  GETTING    TOGETHER 

1.  "Do  your  people  at  home  ap- 
preciate the  fact  that  we  are 
thoroughly  pro-Ally  over  here?" 

2.  "How  about  that  Blockade? 
What  are  you  opening  our  mails 
for — eh?" 

3.  "Would  you  welcome  Ameri- 
can intervention?" 

4.  'What  do  you  propose  to 
do  about  the  submarine  menace?" 

5.  'You  don't  really  think  we 
are  too  proud  to  fight,  do  you?" 

6.  "Are  you  in  favour  of  Na- 
tional Training  for  Americans?" 

7.  "Do  you  expect  to  win  out- 
right, or  are  both  sides  going  to 
fight  themselves  to  a  standstill?  ' 

And 

8.  "Why  can't  you  Britishers 
be  a  bit  kinder  in  your  attitude  to 
us?" 


CHAPTER  TWO 


CHAPTER  TWO 

Let  us  take  this  welter  of  inter- 
rogation categorically,  and  en- 
deavour to  frame  such  answers 
as  would  occur  to  the  average 
Briton  to-day. 

But  first  of  all,  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  the  average  Briton  of 
to-day  is  not  the  average  Briton 
of  yesterday.  Three  years  ago 
he  was  a  prosperous,  comfortable, 
thoroughly  insular  Philistine.  He 
took  a  proprietary  interest  in  the 
British  Empire,  and  paid  a  muni- 
ficent salary  to  the  Army  and  Navy 
for  looking  after  it.  There  his 
Imperial  responsibilities  ceased.  As 

u 


10  GETTING   TOGETHER 

for  other  nations,  he  recognized 
their  existence;  but  that  was  all. 
In  their  daily  life,  or  national 
ideals,  or  habit  of  mind,  he  took 
not  the  slightest  interest,  and  said 
so,  especially  to  foreigners. 

"I'm  English,"  he  would  explain, 
with  a  certain  proud  humility. 
"That's  good  enough  for  yours 
truly!" 

This  sort  of  thing  rather  per- 
plexed the  American  people,  who 
take  a  keen  and  intelligent  inter- 
est in  the  affairs  of  other  nations. 

But  to-day  the  average  Briton 
would  not  speak  like  that.  He  will 
never  speak  like  that  again .  He  has 
been  outside  his  own  island:  he 
has  made  a  number  of  new  ac- 
quaintances. He  has  been  fight- 
ing alongside  of  the  French,  and 


GETTING    TOGETHER  11 

has  made  the  discovery  that  they 
do  not  subsist  entirely  upon  frogs. 
He  has  encountered  real  Germans, 
at  sufficiently  close  quarters  to 
realize  that  the  "German  Menace" 
at  which  his  party  leaders  en- 
couraged him  to  scoff  in  a  bygone 
age  was  no  such  phantom  after 
all.  Altogether  he  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent person  from  the  complacent, 
parochial  exponent  of  the  tight- 
little-island  theories  of  yester-year. 
He  has  encountered  things  at 
home  and  abroad  which  have 
purged  his  very  soul.  Abroad,  he 
has  seen  the  whole  of  Belgium 
and  some  of  the  fairest  provinces 
of  France  subjected  to  the  gross- 
est and  most  bestial  barbarity. 
At  home,  he  has  seen  inoffensive 
watering  places  bombarded  by  pi- 


12  GETTING    TOGETHER 

rate  craft  which  came  up  out 
of  the  sea  like  malignant  wraiths 
and  then  fled  away  like  panic- 
stricken  window-smashers.  He 
has  seen  Zeppelins  hovering  over 
close-packed  working-class  dis- 
tricts in  industrial  towns,  raining 
indiscriminate  destruction  upon 
men,  women,  and  children.  In 
fact,  he  has  seen  things  and  suf- 
fered things  that  he  never  even 
dreamed  of,  and  they  have  broad- 
ened his  mind  considerably. 

Last  year,  under  stress  of  these 
circumstances,  the  average  Briton 
relinquished  his  age-long  propen- 
sity to  "let  George  do  it,"  and 
evolved  a  sudden  and  rather  in- 
spiring sense  of  personal  respon- 
sibility for  the  safety  and  welfare 
of    his    country.     He    no    longer 


GETTING    TOGETHER  13 

limited  his  patriotism  to  the  roar- 
ing of  truculent  choruses  at  music- 
halls,  or  the  decorating  of  his 
bicycle  with  the  flags  of  the  Allies. 
He  went  and  enlisted  instead. 
Now  he  has  faced  Death  in  person 
-and  outfaced  him.  He  has 
ceased  to  attach  an  exaggerated 
value  to  his  own  life.  Life,  he 
realizes,  like  Peace,  is  only  worth 
retaining  on  certain  terms,  the 
first  of  which  is  Honour,  and  the 
second  Honour,  and  the  third 
Honour. 

Finally,  he  regards  the  present 
AYar  as  a  Holy  War — a  Crusade, 
in  fact.  He  went  into  it  with  no 
ulterior  motives:  his  sole  impulse 
was  to  stand  by  his  friends,  France 
and  Belgium,  in  the  face  of  the 
monstrous  outrage  that  was  being 


14  GETTING    TOGETHER 

forced  upon  them.  He  is  out,  in 
fact,  to  save  civilization  and  human 
decency.  Consequently  he  finds 
it  just  a  little  difficult  to  understand 
how  a  warm-hearted  and  high- 
spirited  nation  can  be  expected  to 
remain  "neutral  even  in  thought." 
With  this  much  introduction  to 
the  man  and  his  point  of  view,  we 
will  allow  him  to  speak  for  himself. 


CHAPTER   THREE 


CHAPTER  THREE 

"Do  I  realize  that  you  are  pro- 
All  v  over  here?  Well,  somehow  I 
have  always  felt  it,  but  now  I  know 
it.  When  I  get  home  I  shall  rub 
that  fact  into  everyone  I  meet. 
What  our  people  at  home  don't 
grasp  is  the  fact  that  America 
is  inhabited  by  two  distinct  races — 
Americans,  and  others.  The 
others  appear  to  me — mind  you, 
I'm  only  giving  you  a  personal 
impression — to  consist  either  of 
alien  immigrants  who  have  not 
yet  absorbed  their  new  nationality, 
or  professional  anti-Ally  propa- 
gandists, or  people  of  mixed  na- 

17 


18  GETTING    TOGETHER 

tionality  with  strong  commer- 
cial interests  in  Germany,  whose 
heart  is  where  their  treasure  is. 
These  make  a  surprising  amount 
of  noise,  and  attract  a  dispro- 
portionate amount  of  attention: 
but  I  know,  and  I  intend  the 
people  at  home  to  know,  that  the 
genuine  American  is  with  us  in 
this  business  heart  and  soul. 

"What's  that?  The  Blockade? 
Yes,  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about 
that.  I  take  it  you  will  admit  that 
a  blockade  is  a  justifiable  expedi- 
ent of  war.  There  have  been  one 
or  two  of  them  in  history.  In 
the  American  Civil  War,  for  in- 
stance, the  North  established  a 
pretty  successful  blockade  against 
the  Southern  ports.  British  cot- 
ton ships  were  everlastingly  trying 


GETTING    TOGETHER  19 

to  run  through  that  cordon.  In 
fact,  I  rather  think  we  exchanged  a 
few  cousinly  notes  on  the  subject. 
Of  course  blockades  are  irksome 
and  irritating  to  neutrals.  But 
we  look  to  vou  here  to  endure  the 
inconvenience,  not  merely  as  one 
of  the  chances  of  war,  but  rather 
to  show  us  that  you  in  this  coun- 
try do  recognize  and  indorse  the 
ideal  for  which  we  are  fighting. 
We  are  fighting  for  an  ideal,  you 
know:  I  think  the  way  the  old 
country  came  into  this  war,  all 
unprepared  and  spontaneously, 
just  because  she  felt  she  must 
stand  by  her  friends,  was  the  finest 
thing  she  has  ever  done.  Of  course 
no  sane  person  expected  America 
to  saddle  herself  gratuitously  with 
a    European    War — without   good 


20  GETTING   TOGETHER 

and  sufficient  reason,  that  is — 
but  we  in  England  would  like 
to  feel  that  your  acquiescence  in 
the  inconveniences  caused  by 
our  blockade  is  your  contribu- 
tion to  the  cause — your  slap  on 
the  back,  signifying: — Go  in  and 
win! 

"Open  your  mails?  Yes,  I'm 
afraid  we  do.  And  we  find  a 
good  lot  inside  them!  Do  you 
know,  there  is  a  great  warehouse 
in  London  filled  from  top  to  bot- 
tom with  rubber,  and  nickel,  and 
other  commodities  for  which  the 
Hun  longs,  disguised  as  all  sorts 
of  things — rubber  fruit,  for  instance 
— taken  from  the  most  innocent- 
looking  parcels — all  dispatched 
from  the  United  States  to  neutral 
countries  in  touch  with  Germany? 


GETTING    TOGETHER  21 

But  we  are  most  punctilious  about 
it  all.  Every  single  article  re- 
tains its  original  address-label,  and 
will  be  forwarded  direct  to  its 
proper  consignee,  directly  the  war 
is  over.     Can  you  beat  that? 

"Would  we  welcome  Interven- 
tion? My  dear  sir,  is  it  likely? 
Supposing  you  had  been  caught 
entirely  unprepared,  and  had  been 
sticking  your  toes  in  for  two  years 
— fighting  for  time  and  playing  a 
poor  hand  pretty  well — and  were 
at  last  ready  to  hit  back,  and  hit 
back,  until  you  had  rendered  your 
opponent  incapable  of  further  out- 
rage, and  were  in  a  fair  way  to 
fix  this  war  so  that  it  never  could 
happen  again — would  you  wel- 
come Mediation,  or  offers  of  Medi- 
ation?    I  think  not. 


22  GETTING   TOGETHER 

"Submarines?  We  aren't  at- 
taching too  much  importance  to 
submarine  frightf  ulness.  It  is  true 
we  have  lost  a  number  of  merchant 
ships,  and  that  a  number  of  inno- 
cent lives  have  been  sacrificed. 
But  let  us  put  our  hearts  in  the 
background  for  the  present  and 
look  at  the  matter  from  the  eco- 
nomic and  military  point  of  view. 
We  have  lost,  in  twenty-seven 
months,  about  one  tenth  of  our 
original  merchant  fleet.  Against 
that  you  have  to  set  the  fact  that 
we  have  been  steadily  building 
new  merchant  ships  during  the 
same  period.  The  dead  loss  of 
merchandise  involved  amounts  to 
about  one  half  per  cent,  of  the 
total  value — ten  shillings  in  every 
hundred    pounds;    or    fifty    cents 


GETTING    TOGETHER  23 

per  hundred  dollars.     That  won't 
starve  us  into  submission. 

"But  the  Germans  will  build 
more  and  more  submarines?  Very 
probably.  Still,  I  think  we  ean 
leave  it  to  the  British  and  French 
navies  to  prevent  undue  exuber- 
ance in  that  direction.  Our  sail- 
ors have  not  been  exactly  garrul- 
ous during  this  war,  but  I  think 
we  may  take  it  that  they  have 
not  been  entirely  idle.  Has  it 
ever  occurred  to  you  that  although 
there  are  hundreds  of  Allied  war- 
ships patrolling  the  ocean  to-day, 
vou  hardlv  ever  hear  of  one  being 
torpedoed  by  a  submarine?  Pas- 
senger ships  and  freight  ships 
suffer  to  the  extent  I  have  quoted, 
but  not  the  warships.  Why  is 
that?     Don't  ask  me:  ask  Jellicoe! 


24  GETTING   TOGETHER 

But  it  rather  looks  as  if  the  sub- 
marine, as  an  instrument  of  naval 
warfare — as  opposed  to  a  baby- 
killing  machine — had  rather  failed 
to  deliver  the  goods. 

"The  Deutschland?  I  take  off 
my  hat  to  Captain  Koenig:  he  is  a 
plucky  fellow.  The  U  53  ?  I  have 
no  remarks  to  offer,  except  to 
repeat  my  previous  reference  to 
baby-killing  machines.  As  for  the 
presence  of  these  two  vessels  in 
American  waters — in  American 
ports — I  won't  presume  to  offer 
an  opinion.  Still,  not  long  ago  the 
U  53  sank  six  British  or  neutral 
vessels  off  the  American  coast,  just 
outside  territorial  waters.  For- 
tunately for  the  passengers,  an 
American  cruiser  was  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, to  guard  against  viola- 


GETTING    TOGETHER  Xo 

Hon  of  American  waters,  and 
picked  them  up.  But  the  whole 
incident  looks  to  me  like  a  deliber- 
ate German  plan  to  jockey  an 
American  cruiser  into  becoming  a 
German  submarine  tender. 

"Let  me  see — what  else?  Too 
proud  to  fight?  Not  much!  We 
know  the  American  people  too 
well.  Besides,  we  suffer  from  poli- 
ticians ourselves,  and  know  what 
political  catch-phrases  are.  So 
don't  let  that  worry  you. 

"  National  Training  for  America? 
There  I  am  neither  qualified  nor 
entitled  to  offer  advice.  I  know 
the  difficulties  with  which  the 
true  American  has  to  contend  in 
this  matter.  I  know  that  this 
vast  country  of  yours  is  more 
of    a    continent    than    a    country, 


26  GETTING    TOGETHER 

and  that  so  long  as  your  enormous 
tide  of  immigration  continues,  it 
will  be  a  matter  of  immense  dif- 
ficulty developing  a  national  sense 
of  personal  responsibility.  I  also 
know  that  your  Middle  West  is 
inhabited  by  people,  many  of 
whom  have  never  even  seen  the 
sea,  who  are  rendered  incapable, 
by  their  very  environment,  of 
realizing  the  immensity  of  the  ex- 
ternal dangers  which  threaten  their 
country.  These  must  see  things 
differently  from  the  more  exposed 
section  of  the  community,  and  I 
see  how  dangerous  it  would  be  to 
enforce  upon  them  a  measure 
which  they  regard  as  ridiculous. 
But  on  this  great  subject  of  Pre- 
paredness, I  can  refer  you  to  the 
case  of  my  own  country — not  as 


GETTING    TOGETHER  27 

an  example,  but  as  a  warning. 
We  were  caught  unprepared.  In 
consequence,  we  had  to  sacrifice 
our  best,  our  very  best,  the  kind 
that  can  never  be  replaced  in  any 
country,  just  because  they  hurried 
to  the  rescue  and  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  wiped  out,  while 
the    countrv    behind     them     was 

i 

being  aroused  and  prepared.  That 
is  the  price  that  we  have  paid, 
and  no  ultimate  victory,  however 
glorious,  can  recompense  us  for 
that  criminal  waste  of  the  flower 
and  pride  of  our  youth  and  man- 
hood at  the  outset. 

'Do  we  expect  to  win  the  war 
outright?     Yes,  we  do." 

It  is  true  that  the  Central 
Powers  have  recently  succeeded  in 
devastating  another  little  country, 


28  GETTING   TOGETHER 

though  they  have  not  destroyed  its 
army.  On  the  other  hand,  during 
the  past  few  months  the  Allied 
gains  on  the  Soinnie  have  included, 
among  other  items,  a  chain  of 
fortresses  hitherto  considered  im- 
pregnable, four  or  five  hundred 
pieces  of  artillery,  fourteen  hun- 
dred machine-guns,  and  about 
ninety-five  thousand  unwounded 
German  prisoners.  Moreover,  the 
French  at  Verdun  have  regained 
in  a  few  weeks  all  the  ground  that 
the  Crown  Prince  wrested  from 
them,  at  the  price  of  half  a  million 
German  casualities,  in  the  spring. 
German  colonies  have  ceased  to  ex- 
ist; German  foreign  trade  is  dead; 
the  German  navy  is  cooped  up  in 
Kiel  harbour;  and  Germany  is  so 
short  of  men  that  she  has  resorted 


GETTING    TOGETHER  29 

to  outrageous  deportations  from 
Belgium  in  order  to  obtain  indus- 
trial labour.  On  the  other  hand, 
our  supply  of  munitions  now,  at 
the  opening  of  1917,  is  double  what 
it  was  six  months  ago,  and  our  new 
armies  are  not  yet  all  in  the  field. 
The  British  Navy,  despite  all 
losses,  has  increased  enormously 
both  in  tonnage  and  personnel. 
So  I  don't  think  we  are  fought  to 
a  standstill  yet. 

"Yes,  you  are  right.  All  this 
bloodshed  is  dreadful.  But  re- 
sponsibility for  bloodshed  rests 
not  with  the  people  who  end  a 
war  but  with  the  people  who  began 
it.  As  for  discussing  terms  of 
peace  now,  what  terms  could  be 
arranged  which  Germany  could 
be  relied   upon  to  observe  a  mo- 


30  GETTING   TOGETHER 

ment  longer  than  suited  her? 
Have  you  forgotten  the  way  the 
War  was  forced  on  the  world  by 
Prussian  militarism?  The  trick 
played  on  Russia  over  mobiliza- 
tion? The  violation  of  Belgian 
neutrality?  Malines,  Termonde, 
Louvain?  The  official  raping  in 
the  market-place  at  Liege?  The 
Lusitania?  Edith  Cavell?  The 
Zeppelin  murders?  Chlorine  gas? 
The  deportations  from  Belgium 
and  Lille?  Wittenburg  typhus 
camp,  where  men  were  left  to  rot, 
without  doctors,  or  medicine,  or 
bedding?  How  can  one  talk  of 
"honourable  peace"  with  such  a 
gang  of  criminal  lunatics?  Ask 
yourself  who  would  be  such  a 
fool  as  to  propose  to  end  a  war 
upon  terms  which  left  the  safety 


GETTING    TOGETHER  31 

of  the  world  exposed  to  the  pros- 
pect of  another  outbreak  from  the 
same  source? 

"You,  sir?  Why  can't  you  peo- 
ple in  England  be  a  bit  kinder  in 
their  tone  to  us  Jiere  in  America? 
Ah,  now  you  are  talking!  Let  us 
get  away  from  this  crowd  and  go 
into  the  matter — get  together,  as 
you  say." 


CHAPTER   FOUR 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

So  the  average  Briton  and  the 
average  American  retire  to  a  se- 
cluded spot,  and  "get  together." 
The  American  repeats  his  question: 

"Why  can't  your  people  over 
there  be  a  bit  kinder?  Why  can't 
you  consider  our  feelings  a  bit 
more?  You  haven't  been  over 
and  above  polite  to  us  of  late — 
or  indeed  at  any  time." 

"No,"  admits  the  Briton 
thoughtfully,  "'I  suppose  we  have 
not.  Politeness  is  not  exactly  our 
slrong  suit.  In  my  country  we 
are  not  even  polite  to  one  another!" 
(Try  as  he   will,   he  cannot  help 

35 


36  GETTING   TOGETHER 

saying  this  with  just  the  least  air 
of  pride  and  satisfaction.)  "But 
I  admit  that  that  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  be  impolite  to  other 
nations.  The  fact  is,  being  al- 
most impervious  to  criticism  our- 
selves, we  naturally  find  it  dif- 
ficult to  avoid  wounding  the 
feelings  of  a  people  which  is  par- 
ticularly sensitive  in  that  re- 
spect." 

"Very  well,"  replies  the  Amer- 
ican. "Now,  we  want  to  put 
this  right,  don't  we?" 

"We  do,"  replies  the  other, 
with  quite  un-British  enthusiasm. 
"No  one  who  has  spent  any  time 
as  a  visitor  to  this  country  could 
help " 

"Why  then,  tell  me,"  inter- 
polates the  other,  "what  is  at  the 


GETTING    TOGETHER  37 

back  of  your  country's  present  re- 
sentful attitude  toward  America?" 

The  Briton  ponders. 

"Didn't  someone  once  say," 
he  replies  at  last,  "that  'he  that 
is  not  for  us  is  against  us?'  That 
seems  to  sum  up  the  situation. 
We  on  our  side  are  engaged  in  a 
life-and-death  struggle  for  the 
freedom  of  the  world.  We  know 
that  you  are  not  against  us;  still, 
considering  the  sacredness  of  our 
cause,  and  the  monstrous  means 
by  which  the  Boche  is  seeking  to 
further  his,  we  feel  that  you  have 
not  stood  for  us  so  out  and  out  as 
you  might.  Only  the  other  day 
your  Government  announced  that 
in  their  opinion  it  was  time  that 
both  sides  stated  plainly  what 
they  were  fighting  for !     Now " 


38  GETTING   TOGETHER 

The  other  checks  him. 

"  Don't  you  go  mixing  up  the  offi- 
cially neutral  American  Govern- 
ment," he  says,  "with  the  American 
people,  or  the  American  people  with 
the  inhabitants  of  America.  In 
many  districts  of  America,  the  bal- 
ance of  power  lies  with  people  who 
have  only  recently  entered  the  coun- 
try, and  who  have  not  yet  become 
absorbed  into  the  American  people. 
As  for  our  present  Government, 
it  was  put  into  power  mainly  by 
the  people  of  the  West — people 
to  whom  the  War  has  not  come 
home  in  any  way — and  the  Gov- 
ernment, having  to  consider  the 
wishes  of  the  majority,  naturally 
carries  out  the  instructions  on  its 
ticket.  That  is  how  I,  as  an  aver- 
age American,  sense  the  situation. 


GETTING    TOGETHER  39 

However,    that  is   not   the  point. 
Listen! 

"You  say  that  America  has 
not  helped  you  very  much?  Let 
us  consider  the  ways  in  which 
America  could  have  helped.  Mili- 
tary aid?  Well,  of  course  that 
is  out  of  the  question  so  long  as 
we  remain  neutral,  as  we  agreed 
just  now  we  certainly  ought  to 
remain.  Still,  there  are  more  than 
twenty-five  thousand  American 
citizens  serving  in  the  Allied  Armies 
to-day.     Did  you  realize  that?' 

"I  did  not,"  says  the  Briton, 
interested. 

"Well,  it  is  true.  There  are 
battalions  in  the  Canadian  Army 
composed  almost  entirely  of  men 
from  the  United  States.  Others 
are    serving    in    the    French    and 


40  GETTING    TOGETHER 

British  Armies.     Then  there  is  the 
American  Flying  Corps  in  France." 

'Yes,   I   have   heard   of   them. 
Who  has  not?     Proceed!" 

"Industrial  help,  again.  We 
are  making  munitions  for  you, 
night  and  day.  It  is  true  that 
we  are  being  paid  for  our  trouble; 
but  the  cost  of  living  has  risen  al- 
most as  much  here  as  in  your  own 
country.  Also  let  me  tell  you  that 
we  are  making  no  munitions  for 
Germany,  and  would  not  do  so, 
money  or  no.  The  same  with 
financial  help.  Loan  after  loan 
has  been  floated  in  this  country 
for  the  Allied  benefit.  How  many 
loans  have  been  raised  for  Ger- 
many? Not  one !  That  is  not  be- 
cause German  credit  is  so  bad,  but 
because    no    true    American    will 


GETTING    TOGETHER  41 

consent  to  lend  his  money  to 
such  a  cause.  Believe  me,  the 
attempt  has  been  made,  and  strong 
influence  brought  to  bear,  more 
than  once,  but  the  result  has 
been  failure  every  time. 

"Red  Cross  Work,  again.  There 
are  hundreds  of  Americans  driving 
ambulances  in  the  Allied  lines 
to-day,  and  hundreds  of  American 
women  working  in  Allied  hos- 
pitals. There  are  complete  hos- 
pital units  over  there,  equipped  and 
maintained  by  American  money 
and  American  service.  Have  you 
ever  heard  of  the  Harvard  Unit, 
for  instance?" 

"Vaguely.     Tell  me  about  it." 
"Well,  I  mention  the  Harvard 
Unit    because    it    was    about    the 
first;  but  others  are  doing  nobly 


42  GETTING    TOGETHER 

too.  Let  Harvard  serve  as  a  sam- 
ple. At  the  outbreak  of  the  War, 
Harvard  put  down  ten  thousand 
dollars  to  equip  and  staff  the 
American  Ambulance  Hospital  in 
Paris.  Then,  in  June,  1915,  Har- 
vard took  over  one  of  your  British 
Base  Hospitals,  with  thirty-two 
surgeons  and  seventy-five  nurses. 
That  hospital  has  been  maintained 
by  Harvard  folk  ever  since;  they 
go  out  and  serve  for  three  months 
at  a  time.  Harvard  also  sent  an 
expedition  to  fight  typhus  in  Ser- 
bia. Harvard's  casualty  list,  in 
consequence,  has  grown  pretty 
long.  Not  a  bad  record  for  one 
neutral  University,  eh?  I  don't 
seem  to  remember  your  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  sending  out  a  medical 
unit  to  help  us,  when  we  were  fight- 


GETTING    TOGETHER  43 

ing  for  a  moral  issue  too,  away  back 
in  the  'sixties    under  Lincoln." 

"I  knew  nothing  of  all  this. 
People  at  home  must  be  told," 
says  the  Briton,  earnestly. 

"Or,"  continues  the  American, 
we  can  take  the  work  of  the  Amer- 
ican Ambulance  Field  service.  The 
American  Ambulance  Field  Ser- 
vice with  the  Armies  of  France 
has  carried  over  seven  hundred 
thousand  wounded  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war;  their  sections 
and  section  leaders  have  been  six- 
teen times  cited  for  valuable  and 
efficient  work;  fifty-four  of  their 
men  have  been  given  the  Croix  de 
Guerre  for  bravery,  and  two  the 
Medaille  Militaire.  Three  have 
been  killed.  The  Society  has  at 
present  over  two  hundred  ambu- 


44  GETTING    TOGETHER 

lances  at  the  front,  besides  staff 
and  other  cars  attached  to  different 
sections.  This  Service,  which,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  was  a 
subsidiary  part  of  the  American 
Ambulance  Hospital  at  Neuilly 
has  for  the  past  year  been  self- 
supporting,  and  although  still  co- 
operative with  the  Hospital,  has 
its  own  administration  and  head- 
quarters, and  its  own  maintenance 
fund.  If  you  require  any  further 
information  on  the  subject,  read 
'Friends  of  France,'1  or  'Ambul- 
ance No.  10,'2  both  of  which  books 
will  stir  you  not  a  little. 

"Talking  of  books,  if  you  want 

— 

friends  of  France:  The  Field  Service  of  the  Amer- 
ican Ambulance  described  by  its  members.  (Hough- 
ton Mifflin  Co.,  $2.00.     Limited  Edition,  $10.00) 

2Ambulance  No.  10.  By  A.  Buswell.  (Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  $1.00) 


GETTING    TOGETHER  45 

to  read  a  genuine  American's  opin- 
ion of  the  Allies  and  their  cause, 
read  'Their  Spirit,'1  by  Judge 
Robert  Grant.  And  if  you  want 
to  know  what  another  prominent 
American,  who  formerly  admired 
and  reverenced  Germany,  thinks 
of  Germany  now,  read  Owen  Wis- 
ter's  '  Pentecost  of  Calamity.' 2  Or, 
if  you  want  a  complete  exposure 
of  German  aims  and  methods 
in  this  war,  read  James  M.  Beck's 
'The  Evidence  in  the  Case'.3 

"Now  a  word  concerning  War 
Relief  Societies  in  general.    (There's 

'Their  Spirit:  Some  impressions  of  the  English 
and  French  during  the  Summer  of  191G.  By  Robert 
Grant.     (Houghton  Mi.ilin  Co.,  50c.) 

'Pentecost  of  Calamity.  By  Owen  Wister  (Mac- 
millan  Co.,  50c.) 

'The  Evidence  in  the  Case.  By  James  M.  Beck. 
(Putnam,  $1.00). 


46  GETTING   TOGETHER 

more  to  hear  than  you  thought, 
isn't    there?)     I    cannot    possibly 
give  you  details  about  them  all, 
because  their  name  is  legion.     For 
instance,  this  printed  list  contains 
the  names  of  a  hundred  and  ten 
such  societies;  and  there  are  others. 
As  you  see,   it  covers  Armenian, 
Belgian,  British,  French,  Italian, 
Lithuanian,   Persian,   Polish,   and 
Russian  Relief  enterprises  of  every 
kind.     German    Relief    Societies? 
Yes,  throughout  the  United  States 
there  are  eleven  German  and  Aus- 
trian Societies  altogether;  but  they 
are    all    under    purely    Teutonic 
management,  as  a  glance  at  the 
names    of    their    supporters    will 
show.     America,   as   such,   stands 
aloof  from  them. 

"  Let  us  have  a  look  at  the  purely 


GETTING    TOGETHER  47 

British  Relief  Societies,  which  na- 
turally  will  interest  you  most. 
There  is  The  American  Women's 
War  Hospital  at  Paignton,  Devon- 
shire, directed  by  Lady  Paget, 
herself  an  American,  and  sup- 
ported by  American  contributions. 
It  is  a  far  cry  from  America  to 
Australia,  but  there  is  an  Aus- 
tralian War  Relief  Fund  in  Amer- 
ica. Then  take  the  British  War 
Relief  Association  of  America. 
This  Association  occupies  an  en- 
tire floor  in  a  lofty  building  on 
the  busiest  stretch  of  Fifth  Avenue. 
All  day  and  every  day  they  work 
away,  cutting  surgical  dressings 
at  the  rate  of  nine  thousand  yards 
a  week.  They  also  collect  and 
despatch  comforts  of  every  kind, 
from   motor  ambulances   to   anti- 


48  GETTING   TOGETHER 

septic  pads.  The  rent  of  their 
premises  is  eight  thousand  dollars 
a  year;  but  they  get  the  whole 
place  free.  Their  landlord,  an 
American  citizen,  has  given  them 
that  floor  for  the  duration  of  the 
war,  as  his  contribution  to  the 
fund.  Isn't  that  pretty  fine? 
Again,  there  is  an  American  branch 
of  your  own  Prince  of  Wales'  fund. 
There  is  a  United  States  Guild 
for  British  Soldiers'  Comforts; 
there  is  an  Indian  Soldiers'  Fund 
Committee,  and  many  others. 
These,  as  you  see,  are  purely  pro- 
British  organizations,  but  natur- 
ally your  country  also  benefits 
under  all  general  schemes  of  Allied 
Relief.  Last  summer,  for  instance 
a  great  bazaar  was  held  in  New 
York  in  aid  of  Allied  War  Charities, 


GETTING    TOGETHER  41) 

and  over  half  a  million  dollars 
were  cleared.  Another  bazaar,  held 
more  recently  in  Boston,  raised 
over  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
Another,  in  Chicago,  was  equally 
successful.  And  so  the  tale  goes  on. 
France  and  Belgium,  of  course,  re- 
ceive the  lion's  share  of  American 
sympathy,  as  being  invaded  coun- 
tries, but  I  have  told  you  enough 
to  show  what  we  are  trying  to 
do  for  Great  Britain  too.  We  are 
somewhat  handicapped,  however, 
by  the  fact,  firstly,  that  Great 
Britain  is  not  exactly  what  one 
would  call  a  gracious  receiver 
of  benefits,  and  secondly,  that  the 
man  in  the  street  over  here  re- 
gards your  country  as  too  fabul- 
ously rich  to  require  relief  of  any 
kind.     But    after    all,     it    is   the 


50  GETTING   TOGETHER 

spirit  of  good  will  which  counts, 
and  you  have  all  ours. 

"Well,  the  list  which  I  have 
shown  you  will  give  you  some 
idea  of  the  big  forces  which  are 
working  for  you  over  on  this  side. 
But  big  forces  are  made  up  of 
little  forces.  As  we  say  in  this 
country,  it  is  the  little  things  that 
tell.  All  over  America  I  could 
show  you  little  sewing  meetings 
and  social  gatherings  which  have 
got  together  for  the  purpose  of 
preparing  clothing  and  medical 
comforts  for  the  Allies.  Even 
in  cities  like  Milwaukee  and 
Cincinnati,  which  have  the  repu- 
tation of  being  overwhelmingly 
Teutonic,  there  exist  very  efficient 
and  plucky  Allied  Relief  Societies 
which    are    carrying    on    in     the 


GETTING    TOGETHER  51 

face  of  open  hostility.  There 
is  hardly  a  village  or  township 
that  does  not  possess  such  a 
society.  You  have  a  song  in  Eng- 
land about  'Sister  Susie  Sewing 
Shirts  for  Soldiers.'  Well,  over 
here  in  the  States,  your  cousin 
Susie  is  doing  precisely  the  same 
thing.  She  is  doing  it  so  exten- 
sively that  it  has  been  found  nec- 
essary to  establish  a  great  clear- 
ing house  in  New  York  to  deal 
with  the  gifts  as  they  come  in, 
sort  them  out,  and  forward  them 
to  their  destinations.  The  Clear- 
ing House  also  knows  where  to 
stretch  out  its  hand  for  particu- 
lar commodities.  For  instance,  if 
there  is  a  shortage  of  absorbent 
cotton,  the  Clearing  House  sends 
an    appeal    to    Virginia   for   some 


52  GETTING    TOGETHER 

more,  and  Virginia  sends  it.  Here 
is  a  copy  of  the  monthly  bulletin. 
They  appear  to  have  been  busy. 
You  notice  that  during  one  period 
of  seven  days  last  month,  this 
Clearing  House  handled  over  a 
thousand  cases  of  material  a  day. 

"Yes,  a  clearing-house  like  this 
calls  for  some  organization  and 
labour.  Who  supply  that?  A 
number  of  American  business  men, 
each  of  whom  has  decided  to  run 
his  business  with  his  left  hand 
for  the  present,  leaving  his  right 
hand  free  for  War  Relief. 

"Besides  gifts  in  kind,  these  same 
organizations  send  gifts  in  money. 
Between  seventy  and  eighty  of 
the  leading  clubs  in  America  have 
formulated  a  scheme  under  which 
members  who  feel  so  disposed  may 


GETTING    TOGETHER  53 

have  five  dollars  or  so  debited 
to  their  monthly  bill,  to  be  de- 
voted to  Allied  Relief  work.  Dur- 
ing the  last  three  months  about 
eighty  thousand  dollars  has  been 
raised  and  distributed  by  the  Clear- 
ing House  from  this  source. 

"Our  Relief  work  is  both  col- 
lective and  individual.  At  one 
end  of  the  scale  you  find  a  scheme 
for  raising  a  hundred  million  dol- 
lars to  maintain  and  educate  Bel- 
gian and  French  orphans.  At  the 
other,  I  could  show  you  a  poor 
woman  in  Boston  who  is  living 
on  a  mere  pittance,  because  she 
gives  every  cent  that  she  can 
possibly  spare  to  Allied  Relief. 
I  know  many  American  business 
men  who  cross  the  Atlantic  several 
times  a  year:   on   these  occasions 


54  GETTING    TOGETHER 

they  seldom  fail  to  take  with 
them,  as  part  of  their  personal 
baggage,  a  trunk  stuffed  with 
surgical  dressings,  rare  drugs,  and 
the  like.  Again,  do  you  know 
who  presented  to  your  nation  St. 
Dunstan's,  the  great  institution 
for  blinded  soldiers  in  Regent's 
Park,  London?  An  American  citi- 
zen. So  you  see,  here  we  are,  the 
American  people,  the  greatest  race 
of  advertisers  in  the  world,  doing 
all  this  good  work,  and  saying  noth- 
ing whatever  about  it.  Doesn't 
that  strike  you  as  significant?" 

"It  strikes  me  as  magnificent,' ' 
says  the  Briton. 

'Well,"  rejoins  the  other,  I 
don't  allow  that  it  is  magnificent, 
but  it  is  pretty  good.  We  might 
do    more — ten    times   more.     For 


GETTING    TOGETHER  55 

instance,  all  our  contributions  to 
Belgian  relief  don't  amount  to 
more  than  the  merest  fraction  of 
what  France  and  Great  Britain, 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  agony  and  im- 
poverishment of  their  own  people, 
have  contrived  to  give.  Still,  I 
think  I  have  said  enough  to  show  you 
t  hat  we  are  doing  something.  You'll 
tell  the  folks  at  home,  won't  you? 
It  hurts  us  badly  to  be  regarded 
as  cold  blooded  opportunists." 

"Trust  me;  I'll  tell  them!" 
says  the  Briton  warmly. 

And  the  Get-Together  ends. 


CIIAPTER  FIVE 


CHAPTER  FIVE 

The  only  fact  of  importance 
which  fails  to  emerge  with  suf- 
ficient clearness  from  the  fore- 
going conversation  is  the  fact — 
possibly  the  courteous  American 
suppressed  it  from  motives  of 
delicacy — that  America  is  by  com- 
parison more  pro-Ally  than  pro- 
British.  The  fact  is,  the  Amer- 
ican is  on  the  side  of  right  and 
justice  in  this  War,  and  earnestly 
desires  to  see  the  Allied  cause  pre- 
vail; but  he  has  a  sub-conscious 
aversion  to  seeing  slow-witted,  self- 
satisfied  John  Bull  collect  yet 
another  scalp.     American  relations 

59 


60  GETTING    TOGETHER 

with  France,  too,  have  always 
been  of  the  most  cordial  nature; 
while  America's  very  existence  as 
a  separate  nation  to-day  is  the 
fruit  of  a  quarrel  with  England. 
In  this  regard  it  may  be  noted 
that  American  school  history  books 
are  accustomed  to  paint  the  Eng- 
land of  1776  in  unnecessarily  lurid 
colours.  The  young  Republic  is 
depicted  emerging,  after  a  heroic 
struggle,  from  the  clutches  of  a 
tyranny  such  as  that  wielded  by 
the  nobility  of  France  in  the  pre- 
Revolution  days.  In  sober  fact, 
the  secession  of  the  American 
Colonies  was  brought  about  by  a 
series  of  colossal  blunders  and 
impositions  on  the  part  of  the 
most  muddle-headed  ministry  that 
ever    mismanaged    the    affairs    of 


GETTING    TOGETHER  01 

Great  Britain — which  is  savins  a 
good  deal.  It  is  probable  that  if 
the  elder  Pitt  had  lived  a  few  years 
longer,  the  secession  would  never 
have  occurred.  It  was  only  with 
the  utmost  reluctance  that  ^Yash- 
ington  appealed  to  a  decision  by 
battle.  In  any  case  the  fact  re- 
mains, that  while  in  an  American 
school-book  the  war  of  177G  is 
given  first  place,  correctly  enough, 
as  marking  the  establishment  of 
American  nationality,  it  figures  in 
the  English  school-book,  with  equal 
correctness,  as  a  single  regrettable 
incident  in  England's  long  and 
variegated  Colonial  history.  It  is 
well  to  bear  these  two  points  of 
view  in  mind.  Naturally  all  this 
makes  for  degrees  of  comparison  in 
America's     attitude     toward     the 


62  GETTING    TOGETHER 

Allies.  One  might  extend  the 
comparison  to  Russia,  and  more 
especially  to  Japan;  but  that, 
mercifully,  is  outside  the  scope  of 
our  present  inquiry. 

To  America,  friendship  with 
France  is  an  historic  tradition, 
as  the  Statue  of  Liberty  attests, 
and  rests  upon  the  solid  founda- 
tion of  a  common  ideal — Repub- 
licanism. The  tie  between  Amer- 
ica and  Great  Britain  is  the  tie 
of  a  common  (but  rapidly  dimin- 
ishing) blood-relationship;  and,  as 
every  large  family  knows,  blood- 
relationship  carries  with  it  the 
right  to  speak  one's  mind  with 
refreshing  freedom  whenever  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  arise  within 
the  family  circle.  But  our  ideal- 
ists have  persistently  overlooked 


GETTING    TOGETHER  63 

this  handicap.  They  cling  tena- 
ciously to  the  notion  that  it  is 
easier  to  be  friendly  with  your 
relations  than  with  your  friends; 
and  that  in  dealing  with  your  own 
kin,  tact  may  be  economized. 
"Blood  is  thicker  than  water," 
we  proclaim  to  one  another  across 
the  sea;  "and  we  can  therefore 
afford  to  be  as  rude  to  one  another 
as  we  please."  This  principle 
suits  the  Briton  admirably,  be- 
cause he  belongs  to  the  elder  and 
more  thick-skinned  branch  of  the 
clan.  But  it  bears  hardly  upon  a 
young,  self-conscious,  and  adole- 
scent nation,  which  has  not  yet 
"found"  itself  as  a  whole;  and 
which,  though  its  native  genius 
and  genuine  promise  carry  it  far, 
still  experiences  a  certain  youthful 


64  GETTING    TOGETHER 

diffidence  under  the  supercilious 
condescension  of  the  Old  World. 

Our  mutual  relations  are  fur- 
ther complicated  by  the  possession 
of  a  common  language. 

In  theory,  a  common  tongue 
should  be  a  bond  of  union  be- 
tween nations — a  channel  for  the 
interchange  of  great  thoughts  and 
friendly  sentiments.  In  practice, 
what  is  it? 

Let  us  take  a  concrete  example. 
Supposing  an  American  woman 
and  a  Dutch  woman  live  next 
door  to  one  another  in  a  New 
York  suburb.  As  a  rule  they 
maintain  friendly  relations;  but 
if  at  any  time  these  relations  be- 
come strained — say,  over  the  en- 
croachments of  depredatory  chick- 
ens,  or   the    obstruction   of   some 


GETTING    TOGETHER  65 

one's  ancient  lights  by  the  over- 
exuberance  of  some  one  else's 
laundry — the  two  ladies  are  en- 
abled to  say  the  most  dreadful 
things  to  one  another  without  any 
one  being  a  penny  the  worse. 
They  do  not  understand  one  an- 
anothers  language.  But  if  they 
speak  a  common  tongue,  the  words 
which  pass  when  the  most  ephem- 
eral squabble  arises  stick  and  ran' 
kle. 

Again,  for  many  years  the  peo- 
ple of  Great  Britain  were  ex- 
tremely critical  of  Russia.  Well- 
meaning  stay-at-home  gentlemen 
constantly  rose  to  their  feet  in 
the  House  of  Commons  and  made 
withering  remarks  on  the  subject 
of  knouts,  and  Cossacks,  and 
vodka.     But   they   did   no   harm. 


66  GETTING    TOGETHER 

The  Russian  people  do  not  under- 
stand English.  In  the  same  way, 
Russians  were  probably  accus- 
tomed to  utter  equally  reliable 
criticisms  of  the  home-life  of  Great 
Britain — land-grabbing,  and  hypo- 
crisy, and  whiskey,  and  so  on. 
But  we  knew  nothing  of  all  this, 
and  all  was  well.  There  was  not 
the  slightest  difficulty,  when  the 
great  world-crash  came,  in  form- 
ing the  warmest  alliance  with 
Russia. 

But  as  between  the  two  great 
English-speaking  nations  of  the 
world,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the 
most  foolish  politician  or  the  most 
irresponsible  sub-editor,  on  either 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  to  create  an 
international  complication  with  a 
single  spoken  phrase  or  stroke  of 


GETTING    TOGETHER  07 

the  pen.  And  as  both  countries 
appear  to  be  inhabited  very  largely 
by  persons  who  regard  newspapers 
as  Bibles  and  foolish  politicians 
as  inspired  prophets,  it  seems 
advisable  to  take  steps  to  regu- 
late the  matter. 

This  brings  us  to  another  matter 
— the  attitude  of  the  American 
Press  toward  the  War.  A  cer- 
tain section  thereof,  which  need 
not  be  particularized  further,  has 
never  ceased,  probably  under  the 
combined  influences  of  bias  and 
subsidy,  to  abuse  the  Allies,  par- 
ticularly the  British,  and  misre- 
present their  motives  and  ideals. 
This  sort  of  journalism  "cuts  no 
ice"  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
just  "yellow  journalism."  Voila 
tout  I     "Why  take  it  seriously?  But 


68  GETTING    TOGETHER 

the  British  people  do  not  know 
this;  and  as  the  British  half- 
penny Press,  when  it  does  quote 
the  American  Press,  rarely  quotes 
anything  but  the  most  virulent 
extracts  from  this  particular  class 
of  newspaper,  one  is  reduced  yet 
again  to  wondering  whence  the 
blessings  of  a  common  language 
are  to  be  derived. 

But  taking  them  all  round,  the 
newspapers  of  America  have  han- 
dled the  questions  of  the  War 
with  conspicuous  fairness  and  abil- 
ity. They  are  all  fundamentally 
pro- Ally;  and  the  only  criticism 
which  can  be  directed  at  them 
from  an  Allied  quarter  is  that  in 
their  anxiety  to  give  both  sides  a 
hearing,  they  have  been  a  little  too 
indulgent  to  Germany's  claims  to 


GETTING    TOGETHER  09 

moral  consideration,  and  have  been 
a  little  over-inclined  to  accept  the 
German  Chancellor's  pious  mani- 
festoes at  their  face  value.  But 
generally  speaking  it  may  be  said 
that  the  greater  the  newspaper, 
the  firmer  the  stand  that  it  has 
taken  for  the  Allied  cause.  The 
New  York  Times,  the  weightiest 
and  most  authoritative  newspaper 
in  America,  has  been  both  pro- 
Ally  and  pro-British  throughout 
the  War,  and  has  never  shrunk 
from  the  delicate  task  of  interpre- 
ting satisfactorily  to  the  British 
people  the  attitude  of  the  Presi- 
dent. 

Journalistic  criticism  of  Great 
Britain  in  America  is  frequently 
extremely  candid,  and  not  alto- 
gether unmerited.     Occasionally  it 


70  GETTING    TOGETHER 

goes  too  far;  but  the  occasion 
usually  arises  from  ignorance  of 
the  situation,  or  the  desire  to 
score  an  epigrammatic  point.  For 
instance,  during  the  struggle  for 
Verdun  in  the  spring,  a  New  York 
newspaper,  sufficiently  well-con- 
ducted to  have  known  better, 
published  a  cartoon  representing 
John  Bull  as  standing  aloof,  but 
encouraging  the  French  to  per- 
severe in  their  efforts  by  parody- 
ing Nelson '  s  phrase : — * '  England 
expects  that  every  Frenchman  will 
do  his  duty."  The  truth  of  course 
was  that  Sir  Douglas  Haig  had 
offered  General  Joffre  all  the  Bri- 
tish help  that  might  be  required. 
The  offer  was  accepted  to  this 
extent,  that  the  British  took  over 
forty  additional  miles  of  trenches 


GETTING    TOGETHER  71 

from  the  French,  thus  setting 
free  many  divisions  of  French 
soldiers  to  participate  in  a  glorious 
and  purely  French  victory. 

But  this  sort  of  foolish  calumny 
dies  hard,  together  with  such 
phrases  as: — "England  is  pre- 
pared to  hold  on,  to  the  last 
Frenchman!"  While  not  strictly 
relevant  to  our  present  discus- 
sion, the  following  figures  may  be 
of  interest.  In  August  1914  the 
British  Regular  Army  consisted 
of  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men.  To-day,  British 
troops  in  France  number  two  mil- 
lion; in  Salonica,  a  hundred  and 
forty  thousand;  in  Egypt,  a  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand;  in  Meso- 
potamia, a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand.     The  Navy  absorbs  an- 


72  GETTING    TOGETHER 

other  four  hundred  thousand,  while 
a  full  million  are  occupied  in 
purely  naval  construction  and  re- 
pair. And  at  home  again  enor- 
mous masses  of  new  troops  are 
undergoing  training.  This  seems 
to  dispose  of  the  suggestion  that 
Great  Britain  is  winning  the  War 
by  proxy. 

And  for  the  upkeep  of  this 
mighty  host,  and  for  this  general 
comforting  of  the  Allies,  the  Bri- 
tish taxpayer  is  now  paying  cheer- 
fully and  willingly,  in  addition 
to  such  trifling  impositions  as  a  60 
per  cent  tax  on  his  commercial 
profits,  income  tax  at  the  rate  of 
twenty-five  cents  in  the  dollar. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  ac- 
count, Life,  the  American  equiv- 
alent of  Punch,  (if  it  is  possible 


GETTING    TOGETHER  73 

for  the  humour  of  a  particu- 
lar nation  to  find  its  equivalent 
in  any  other  nation),  published 
not  long  ago  a  special  "John 
Bull"  number,  which  will  for  ever 
remain  a  monument  of  journalistic 
generosity  and  international  cour- 
tesy. Life's  good  deed  was  grace- 
fully acknowledged  by  Punch  and 
The  Spectator. 

But  in  spite  of  Life's  good  ex- 
ample, enough  has  been  said  under 
this  head  to  illuminate  the  fact 
that  a  common  language  is  a 
doubtful  blessing.  The  joint  pos- 
session of  the  tongue  that  Shakes- 
peare and  Milton  and  Longfellow 
and  Abraham  Lincoln  spoke  has 
bestowed  little  upon  our  two  na- 
tions but  a  convenient  medium, 
too    often,    for    shrewish    alterca- 


74  GETTING    TOGETHER 

tion,  coupled  with  the  profound 
conviction  of  either  side  that  the 
other  side  is  unable  to  speak  cor- 
rect English. 

Well,  this  nonsense  must  stop. 


CHAPTER  SIX 


CHAPTER   SIX 

Therefore,  whenever  a  true  Amer- 
ican and  a  true  Briton  get  to- 
gether, let  them  hold  an  inter- 
national symposium  of  their  own. 
If  it  were  not  for  the  unfortunate 
interposition  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
this  interview  would  be  extended, 
with  proportional  profit,  to  the 
greatest  symposium  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  Meanwhile,  we  will 
make  shift  with  a  company  of 
two. 

The  following  counsel  is  re- 
spectfully offered  to  the  partici- 
pants in  the  debate. 

Let  the  Briton  remember: — 

77 


78  GETTING   TOGETHER 

1.  Remember  you  are  talking 
to  a  friend. 

2.  Remember  you  are  talking  to 
a  man  who  regards  his  nation  as 
the  greatest  nation  in  the  world. 
He  will  probably  tell  you  this. 

3.  Remember  you  are  talking 
to  a  man  whose  country  has  made 
an  enormous  contribution  to  your 
cause  in  men,  material,  and  money, 
besides  putting  up  with  a  good  deal 
of  inconvenience  and  irksome  super- 
vision at  your  hands.  Remem- 
ber, too,  that  your  own  country 
has  made  little  or  no  acknowledge- 
ment of  its  indebtedness  in  this 
matter. 

4.  Remember  you  are  talking  to 
a  man  who  believes  in  "publicity," 
and  who  believes  further,  that  if 
you    do    not    advertise    the    fact, 


GETTING    TOGETHER  79 

you  cannot  possibly  be  in  pos- 
session of  "the  goods."  So  for 
any  sake  open  up  a  little,  and 
tell  him  all  you  can  about  what 
the  British  Nation  is  doing  to- 
day for  Humanity  and  Civiliza- 
tion — in  other  words,  for  America. 

5.  Remember  this  man  is  not 
so  impervious  to  criticism  as  you 
are.  Don't  over-criticize  his  ap- 
parent attitude  to  the  War.  Re- 
member you  are  talking  to  a  man 
whose  patience  under  such  outrages 
as  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania 
has  been  strained  to  the  utter- 
most; so  don't  ask  him  whether  he 
is  too  proud  to  fight,  or  he  may 
offer  you  convincing  proof  to  the 
contrary. 

C.  Remember  you  are  talking 
to  a  man  whose  business  has  been 


80  GETTING   TOGETHER 

considerably  interfered  with  by 
the  stringency  of  the  Allied  block- 
ade. So  don't  invite  him  to 
wax  enthusiastic  over  the  vigil- 
ance of  the  British  Navy  or  the 
promptness  of  the  Censor  in  put- 
ting the  mails  through. 

7.  And  do  try  to  disabuse  the 
man's  mind  of  the  preposterous, 
Germany -fostered  notion  that  your 
country  regards  this  war  merely 
as  a  vehicle  for  commercial  ag- 
grandizement, or  that  the  British 
Foreign  Office  proposes  to  main- 
tain the  Black  List  and  other  bug- 
bears after  the  War.  It  seems 
absurd  that  you  should  have  to 
give  such  an  assurance,  but  doubts 
upon  the  subject  certainly  exist  in 
certain  quarters  in  America  to-day. 

Let  the  American  remember: 


GETTING    TOGETHER  81 

1 .  Remember  you  are  talking  to 
&  friend. 

2.  Remember  you  are  talking  to 
a  man  who  regards  his  nation  as 
the  greatest  in  the  world.  He 
will  not  tell  you  this,  because  he 
takes  it  for  granted  that  you  know 
already. 

3.  Remember  you  are  talking 
to  a  man  who  is  a  member  of  a 
traditionally  reticent  and  unex- 
pansive  race;  who  says  about  one 
third  of  what  he  feels;  who  is 
obsessed  by  a  mania  for  under- 
stating his  country's  case,  exag- 
gerating its  weaknesses,  and  be- 
littling its  efforts;  who  is  secretly 
shy,  so  covers  up  his  shyness  with 
a  cloak  of  aggressiveness  which 
is  offensive  to  those  who  are  not 
prepared  for  it.     Remember  that 


82  GETTING   TOGETHER 

this  attitude  is  not  specially  as- 
sumed for  you :  as  often  as  not 
the  man  employs  it  toward  his 
own  wife,  who  rather  enjoys  it, 
because  she  regards  it  as  a  symptom 
of  affection. 

4.  Remember  you  are  talking 
to  a  man  who  is  fighting  for  his 
life.  To-day  his  face  is  turned 
toward  Central  Europe,  and  his 
back  to  the  United  States.  Do 
not  expect  him  to  display  an 
intimate  or  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  America's  true  atti- 
tude to  the  War.  He  is  conduct- 
ing the  War  according  to  his 
lights,  and  is  prepared  to  abide 
by  the  consequences  of  what  he 
does.  So  he  is  apt  to  be  resentful 
of  criticism.  Bear  with  him,  for 
he  is  having  a  tough  time  of  it. 


GETTING    TOGETHER  83 

5.  Enemy  propaganda  to  the 
contrary,  remember  that  this  man 
is  not  a  hypocrite.  He  is  oc- 
casionally stupid;  he  is  at  times 
obstinate;  he  is  frequently  high- 
handed; and  often  he  would  rather 
be  misunderstood  than  explain. 
But  he  is  neither  tyrannical  nor 
corrupt.  He  went  into  this  War 
because  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  do 
so,  and  not  because  he  coveted 
any  Teutonic  vineyard. 

G.  Remember  that  your  nation 
has  done  a  great  deal  for  this 
man's  nation  during  the  War. 
Tell  him  all  about  it:  it  will 
interest  him,  because  he  did  not 
know. 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 

Practically  every  one  in  this 
world  improves  on  closer  acquaint- 
ance. The  people  with  whom  we 
utterly  fail  to  agree  are  those  with 
whom  we  never  get  into  close 
touch. 

Individual  Americans  and  Brit- 
ons, when  they  get  together  in 
one  country  or  the  other,  usually 
develope  a  genuine  mutual  liking. 
As  nations,  however,  their  attitude 
to  one  another  is  too  often  a  distant 
attitude — a  distance  of  some  three 
thousand  miles,  or  the  exact  width 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean— and  ranges 
from  a  lofty  tolerance  in  good  times 

87 


88  GETTING   TOGETHER 

to  unreserved  bickering  in  bad. 
Why?  Because  they  are  geograph- 
ically too  far  apart.  But  with  the 
shrinkage  of  the  earth's  surface 
produced  by  the  effects  of  elec- 
tricity and  steam,  that  geographi- 
cal abyss  yawns  much  less  widely 
than  it  did.  So  let  us  get  together, 
whether  in  couples  or  in  millions. 
The  thing  has  to  be  done.  No  re- 
arrangement of  the  world's  affairs 
after  the  War  can  be  either  just 
or  equitable  or  permanent  which 
does  not  find  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  of  America  upon 
the  same  side.  What  we  want  is 
common  ground,  and  a  sound 
basis  of  understanding.  Our  pre- 
sent basis — the  "  Hands-across-the 
-Sea,  Blood-is-thicker-than- Water 
basis — is  sloppy  and  unstable.  Be- 


GETTING    TOGETHER  89 

sides,  it  profoundly  irritates  that 
not  inconsiderable  section  of  the 
American  people  which  does  not 
happen  to  be  of  British  descent. 

We  can  find  a  better  basis  than 
that.  What  shall  it  be?  Well, 
we  have  certain  common  ideals 
which  rest  upon  no  sentimental 
foundations,  but  upon  the  bed- 
rock of  truth  and  justice.  Wre 
both  believe  in  God;  in  personal 
liberty;  in  a  Law  which  shall  be 
inflexibly  just  to  rich  and  poor 
alike.  We  both  hate  tyranny  and 
oppression  and  intrigue;  and  we 
both  love  things  which  are  clean, 
and  wholesome,  and  of  good  re- 
port. Let  us  take  one  common 
stand  upon  these. 

We  must  take  certain  precau- 
tions.    We    must    bear    and    for- 


90  GETTING   TOGETHER 

bear.  We  must  forget  a  good 
deal  that  is  past.  We  must  make 
allowances  for  point  of  view  and 
differences  of  temperament.  And 
we  must  mutually  and  heroically 
refrain  from  utilizing  the  unri- 
valled opportunities  for  repartee 
and  pettiness  afforded  by  the  pos- 
session of  a  common  tongue. 

Of  course,  we  must  not  expect 
or  attempt  to  work  together  in 
unison.  National  differences  of 
character  and  standpoint  forbid. 
And  no  bad  thing  either.  Unison 
is  a  cramping  and  irksome  business. 
Let  us  work  in  harmony  instead, 
which  is  far  better.  And  so — to 
paraphrase  the  deathless  words  of 
the  greatest  of  Americans: — With 
charity  toward  all,  with  malice 
toward  none,  with  mutual  under- 


GETTING    TOGETHER  91 

standing  and  confidence,  we  shall 
go  forward  together,  to  bind  up 
the  wounds  of  the  world,  and 
prevent  for  all  time  a  repetition 
of  the  outrage  which  inflicted  them. 


THE   COUNTRY   LIFE   PRESS 
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